Cell culture under oxygen controlled conditions: an improvement towards more predictive results

Oxygen concentration in tissues is a key factor for cell and organ survival. In normal conditions, partial oxygen pressure (pO2) results in the balance between oxygen delivery and its consumption. Oxygen is transported, in mammals, by circulating red blood cells. Partial oxygen pressure in tissues varies widely, depending on their respective metabolic requirements and their functional status. In normal physiological conditions,  partial oxygen pressure is called physioxia. Any alteration of tissue environment leading to a decrease in partial oxygen pressure is called hypoxia. Hypoxic conditions have been observed in many different pathological situations like tumor development, obesity or transcient ischemia.

Kv1.3 channels are expressed in T-cell lymphocytes and over-expressed in autoimmune diseases. They can be see as a therapeutic taget for T cell mediated autoimmune diseases.

As part of the innate immune response, Toll-like receptor 9 recognizes unmethylated CpG nucleotide sequences, which are very common in viruses and prokaryotes and more rare in vetebrates. Scientists routinely use synthetic oligonucleotides as TLR9 agonists for a variety of applications requiring activation of an innate immune response via TLR9. These relatively simple oligonucleotides are easy to produce, and as a result some companies have extensive catalog offers.

TLR9 structure in complex with CpG ODN. Source: Zhou et al. doi:10.1186/1742-4682-10-18.

Self-renewal and differentiation capacities into multiple cell-types are 2 main characteristics of Stem Cells. Contrarily to Embryonic Stem Cells, Adult Stem Cells (ASC) are already committed to a differentiated lineage. Nevertheless, ASC still retain capacities of generating various cell types within their restricted lineage. It’s thus crucial to be able to access high quality and reliable research tools when tracking cell differentiation. Here, we’ll review the most popular reagents used to characterize the ectodermal lineage.